Home Movies

I first saw Home Movies on cable TV in the early 80s, before I was even a teenager. I was drawn in by Nancy Allen being 'possessed' by a foul-mouthed bunny rabbit hand-puppet. I found it hilarious and watched the movie anytime it aired during that month or so. I could never forget it and looked for it on VHS later in the 80s when we got our first VCR. Then, I had a laserdisc of the movie, then the DVD (which appears to be a straight transfer of the laserdisc). Now in my mid-50s, I still adore this wacky movie from start to finish, right from the opening notes of the catchy string intro theme.

The characters are hilariously messed up. Mom is a drama queen faking suicide attempts due to being attention starved for her endlessly cheating and flirting husband, always finding a reason to cry and feel sorry for herself. James is the domineering older brother who is attempting to rehabilitate Nancy Allen's character from her prostitution past, which included the bunny hand-puppet. Taking it to extremes with a Temptation Marathon, subjecting her to weaknesses: "Can she resist". Denis is the nerdy younger brother, but the most normal of all of them.

Mom adores James as the perfect son, often pushing kind-hearted Denis aside suggesting he be more like James. But James has a latency presented during his alleged teaching of his sort of boy scout troupe how to be 'men' as he tries to get them to kiss each other under the guise of showing them how to please a woman. It's so funny and ludicrous as the students resist the direction.

From start to finish, the whole movie is like an adult cartoon of the most slapstick kind, and there are quirky touches everywhere, from out-of-nowhere sound effects, exploding tapes, to dramatic light breezes during key moments of dialog.

Nancy Allen as Kristina tries so hard to please James and become what he wants her to be, which is a requirement of their pending nuptials. That is, until she catches his antics with his troupe. That's when Bunny reappears in her life on the day of her engagement party giving a peek into her past to hilarious effect. Watching her stumble around the house sedated with that rabbit puppet handing out "glossies" and telling everyone to "Catch us at the Pussycat" has been seared into brain since I was 12 years old, and I love it!

I don't expect too many people will appreciate this student film, but I clicked with it instantly. The following year, De Palma would go on to further success with Dressed To Kill, also staring Nancy Allen and Keith Gordon from this film, along with a cameo of the amusingly dramatic mom Mary Davenport making disgusted faces at the end of that film when Nancy details male to female sex change surgery.

It's insane, it's very politically incorrect (especially by today's boring standards), and it's a lot of fun if you can appreciate it.

This film is totally unlike anything I've ever seen from De Palma. It's a dysfunctional family comedy filmed with purposely shoddy production to get over the premise that we are really watching a home movie shot by the main character.

Kirk Douglas plays The Maestro, a film instructor who starts his new class off by showing his recent failure to make Keith Gordon the star of his own movie. Gordon is one of those people who exist without anyone really knowing it. He doesn't appear to have any friends and his family doesn't give him the time of day. His father (the late Vincent Gardenia) is a quack doctor who cheats on his wife with his nurse (and probably his female patients). His mother (Mary Davenport) is too concerned about this, continually wavering on whether to divorce him or accept all the blame for not being able to satisfy him. The rest of the time, she's interested in what her good son that she's so proud of even though she doesn't understand him in the least is up to. Gerrit Graham is an elitist who essentially lives and teaches naturalism and sexism at Now College. He'd rather plant his seed in the ground than in Nancy Allen, but since it's not possible for man to do that yet, he decides he'll marry her if he can convert her to his ways. Allen is an interesting choice for him to try to convert because she's a whore who drinks, smokes, and eats evil fast food. She totally worships him so she attempts to give it all up for a life with him that's, all things considered, less of a life than she had before because a woman in his world essentially can't do anything.

Since Gordon's life is an utter bore, Douglas gets him to film things that the average Joe would pay to see. Thus, Gordon decides to try to catch his father in the act to help his mom get the divorce and to steal Allen away from his brother, who has always been the center of attention and one that won in the past, by convincing her that she's fine as she is.

The movie is absurd, but generally in a way that's humorous without going overboard. It's definitely somewhat farcical in its look at filmmaking by the inexperienced and this quirky family.

Graham does an excellent job of playing his wacky character that considers himself to be of the utmost knowledge, but can't convey his points in a way where anyone understands them (he explains with lines like those who know know). What makes it even funnier is that he's held in such high regard, yet his disciples consist of about 5 rejects that just pretend to understand and buy into his philosophies to his tirades and/or being verbally berated.

Allen has a tougher role than in her other films with De Palma, as she tries to be a good girl but she's constantly being tempted, so she gets to have some interesting personality shifts. She's been in better films, but this is the one where she really stands out as someone that could really act.

The thing with the style is De Palma seems to waver between whether he wants us to believe it's all a home movie or not. At some points we see Gordon going under cover in a Soul Man kind of outfit to spy on his father, but most of the time it's obvious that Gordon isn't filming and, based on the camera angles, not believable that anyone else could be without being seen. To make things more bizarre, Douglas just appears out of nowhere, even popping up in a tree at one point while Gordon is failing to catch his dad in action. The only true breaks in the style are a few dreamy shots of Allen that make her look really beautiful, perhaps so the filmmakers in the film can be described as hacks that luck into a nice scene once every couple of days.

In terms of style, the animation opening is what steals the show. Not that the animations are technical in any way, but it sets up the whole movie by introducing all the characters and the caricatures of them are quite humorous.

It seems like De Palma was just having fun with this one. If you take this at face value than it's easy to rank on because it's got its share of implausibilities. If you don't focus on who is filming the movie then it's solid because the actions of the characters are believable (considering what the characters are like) and the progression is logical. As a whole it's a mess, but an enjoyable one that was years ahead of its time. It's out there, but if you like movies with weird families such as Some Girls and didn't find the production of Blair Witch to be a detriment then this is another to check out. I'm glad this isn't De Palma's regular style because we would have been robbed of some great, highly stylish films, but as a one-time experiment it's successful enough and a cool kind of different. I think most people would like his far more conventional comedy Wise Guys better, but I found this story far more humorous and a lot less goofy. 7/10

Nebbish teenager, with squabbling parents and a megalomaniacal older brother, is mentored by a professor at Now College to stop being invisible and become the star of his own life. Hot property Brian De Palma filmed this low-budget movie alongside his filmmaking students at Sarah Lawrence College, perhaps in an attempt to reconnect with his roots as an independent maker of revue comedies (if true, the film could surely use Robert De Niro and Allen Garfield to give it a lift). There's no wit or sting in the writing (credited to six people, working from De Palma's original treatment)--it's all just a lark, a flagging, in-jokey experiment. It might have been easier to watch had the exteriors not been so dark and the interiors so muddy; the picture is a visual insult. Nancy Allen is a plus as a tootsie who gets to know her rabbit, and Pino Donaggio contributed an eclectic score. * from ****

The story about how "Home Movies" was made make it a very unusual film! Brian De Palma was apparently teaching a film class and he got his students to make this movie....with the help of a few established actors, such as Kirk Douglas and Vincent Gardenia. Originally, I don't think it was intended as a film to be released to theaters and it had a minimal budget. But somehow as they made the film, they were able to get some stars and the budget skyrocketed.

Because it was an experimental film, the story was made using 20 different students as directors. As a result of this and the other non-professionals making the movie, it comes off as rather disjoint and strange. But again, the movie was NOT intended to be a typical movie...more an odd experimental one. So despite it's many shortcomings I really don't want to attack it or put it down for its limitations. Plus, several actors in the film went on to some starring roles, such as Nancy Allen and Keith Gordon.

This is a movie more for the curious than for anyone wanting to see a traditional movie. If you are curious, it's on YouTube and can be viewed for free.

Most of the reviews on this film are rather brutal. I think you're overlooking the context in which this film was made. This film was made by film students with De Palma overseeing. It's not like it was a pet project of his, which is how most of these reviews frame the film. In the documentary "De Palma" he goes into great detail about this. It was really about letting his film students learn on the job. So of course it's not "The Fury." It is, however, a nice accomplishment for a bunch of film school students. And I personally think the unpolished aspect of it adds charm and intimacy. Nancy Allen is as radiant as ever, and there's some decent albeit left-field comedic references. Not every film is going to be a Hollywood blockbuster, and I don't think that's a bad thing. Take this film for what it is, and enjoy.